Should I “Be Everywhere” When I Start Recruiting on Social Media?

March 11, 2014 4:37 pmPublished by Kaila Prins

If you follow the world of social media marketing, you might have heard of the “be everywhere” strategy. If you haven’t, it means establishing a presence on as many social media networks as possible in order to get your message in front of as many people as possible in as many ways as possible. Think TwittBookInTube+ with a dash of Reddit thrown in for flavor…

For a social media guru, being everywhere is possible because that’s what they do. Not only do they have the time and resources to

create dedicated content for every platform, but they also (and this is the important part) have the time to be present on those platforms. Being present helps build relationships on social media, and relationships are the currency on which social runs.

You’ve probably just read the above and had the same reaction as many others: “That sounds great—but I could never actually do that.”

And that’s perfectly okay.

You see, while we at Work4 believe 110% in the power and necessity of social media, we also understand that being everywhere is not necessarily the right strategy for everyone when they’re just getting started.

That’s why I’d like to propose a different, manageable, and equally as effective strategy:

Be where everyone is.

This is as true in recruiting as it is in marketing. If you’re spread too thin, you’re not going to be able to invest the time into crafting a great message and building strong relationships with the users who interact with you.

So how can you be where everyone is?

From a strategic and resource standpoint, Facebook is the best place to centralize your social recruitment strategy.

Everyone is there. Nurses, sales professionals, and software engineers log on to share about their latest achievements at work. Retail workers and C-Suite executives interact with their favorite companies. Graphic designers, customer service reps, copywriters, and lawyers all update their profile information with places they’ve worked or studied at and skills or interests that make them unique.

And if you’re making use of Facebook for recruiting, then that time isn’t going to waste.

Recruiting on Facebook doesn’t just mean setting up a Facebook Page and hoping the right people will come.

Facebook works as a “be where everyone is” strategy, because it gives you the power to sort through the 1.23 billion people who are already there and proactively source and target the most likely applicants using tools like Graph Search and Ads. It gives you the power to start talking to candidates through your brand.

It also works because of the built-in currency of sharing on the platform. You can share jobs with your network; your employees can share jobs with their friends. And if you also want to “be everywhere” without having to venture too far, you can link your Facebook to your Twitter account, for example, and everything you post to Facebook will become automatic content for your Twitter audience too. If you’re using Social Job Sharing, Facebook can become the center of your social recruiting strategy while allowing your recruiters and employees to automatically share the right jobs with their Twitter and LinkedIn networks.

If you’re focused on Facebook, you’re focused on spending time interacting with and creating appropriate content for your target audience. After all, the men and women who take the time to visit and “like” your Career Page are often the most likely to fit in with your company culture, become your brand advocates, or click apply when the position is right.

Yes, I think it’s valuable to be everywhere, if you can. But if you want to reach the most people in the most targeted way, while maintaining an efficient investment of time and effort, using Facebook as the center of your job sharing strategy can be a great way to get started.